Now, Dimitroff drafts based off need, and I think the two biggest needs in Atlanta are defensive end and linebacker. The Falcons have been coy since the Combine about their desire to improve their pass rush. Mike Smith said during a Combine interview that in order to improve their pass defense, they must address both the secondary and pass rush. Well, they addressed the secondary when they signed Dunta Robinson, so now I think it’s time to address the pass rush.

And with the 19th pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Atlanta Falcons select…Defensive end Brandon Michigan from the University of Michigan.
Now, there are other players that are getting first/second round grades from CBS that we’ve worked out. In my opinion, these players become options if we trade back in the first round. These players include:

Now, the Falcons lack a second round pick, but have worked out some players that are receiving a second round grade. I would not expect them to be options for any of our picks, but in case we do make some trades and wind up with a second round pick at some point next Friday, then I should mention those players:

So it’s possible that the Falcons with two picks in the third can take players from both groups. One should note that Ford, Arenas, Cox, and Shipley are all return specialists. We can probably cross out Lang now that we’ve drafted Graham.

Since the Falcons haven’t addressed their linebacker position, this makes this pick easy. I’ve heard reports that Chaney is rising up the boards into the second/third round range, but until CBS Sports changes his grade, then we’ll just have to go with what they have here.

Now we have two fifth round picks. I should note that Brown, Cooper, Jones, and Chaney were all considered borderline fifth round picks, so they could be available in the fifth as well. We should also add:

But because of the point we’re at in the draft, Dimitroff likes to target role players that can make the roster. So I think it opens the door for guys that have later grades on CBS Sports to be viable options as well. So we might as well list every other guy we’ve worked out or shown interest in: